OZ
by Mirialdo
Summary: A GW \ Matrix Fusion, A group of rebels must find a certain one that can defeat the controling A.I. known as OZ, before it finds and destroys them..
1. Default Chapter

Characters:  
  
Characters in OZ – Character in GW – Character in Matrix  
  
T.K.\ Khush – Treize  
  
Wing – Heero Yuy - Neo  
  
Wolf – Miri – Trinity  
  
Dragon – Wufei – Morpheus  
  
Queen – Relena – Cypher  
  
Kat – Catherine – Apoc  
  
Shinigami – Duo – Mouse  
  
No End – Noin – Switch  
  
Po – Sally  
  
Mau'dieb – Quatre – Dozer  
  
Nanashi – Trowa – Tank  
  
Agent Une – Une – Agent Smith  
  
Agent Quinze – Quinze – Agent Brown  
  
Agent Dorothy – Dorothy – Agent Jones  
  
  
  
Title: OZ  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gundam Wing Characters or the Matrix world, this is just an idea I had and wrote don't sue me as I own nothing worth any value.  
  
Warnings: Adult language and content , Angst, death, Yaoi Implied, Yuri Implied, (Rated R )  
  
Pairings: Implied 13x5 , 6x1, Implied S+9, 3x4;  
  
(I doubt if there is any lemons in this. There might be though in the follow-up and prequel to this though)  
  
Key:  
  
"....." - spoken words  
  
'.....' -thoughts  
  
// ..... // -words spoken by T.K (most likely happens while someone is within OZ)  
  
*....* - Italics  
  
~.....~ or ~*....*~ - typing  
  
[.....] -speaking over a phone  
  
  
  
~*Prologue to the Beginning of the End:*~  
  
A blinking cursor pulses in the electric darkness like a heart coursing with phosphorous light, burning beneath the derma of black-neon glass. A phone begins to ring. The cursor continues to throb, relentlessly patient, until –  
  
[Hello?] A woman's voice answers.  
  
Data now slashes across the screen, information flashing faster than can be read.  
  
*Call trans opt: received. 2-20-03 13:24:18 REC: Log *  
  
[I'm inside. Anything to report?] A man's voice asks.  
  
The phone conversation flashes up on the screen in a different window. The woman's name is Queen. The man, Wolf.  
  
[Let's see. Target left work at 5:01 PM.] Queen began.  
  
In the first window the words, *Trace program: running.* appear. The entire screen fills with racing columns of numbers. Shimmering like green- electric rivets, they rush at a 10-digit phone number in the top corner.  
  
[He caught the northbound Howard line. Got off at Sheridan and went home.] She finished.  
  
The area code is identified. The first three numbers suddenly fixed, leaving only seven flowing columns. Soon each digit is matched, one by one, snapping into place like the wheels of a slot machine.  
  
[All right, you're relieved. Use the usual exit.] Wolf said.  
  
[Do you know when we're going to make contact?] Queen asked.  
  
[Soon.] Wolf answered.  
  
Only two thin digits left of the phone number in the window.  
  
[Just between you and me, you don't believe it, do you? You don't believe this guy is the one?] Queen asked her voice carrying a slight trance of uncertainty.  
  
[I think Dragon believes he is.] Wolf answered.  
  
[I know. But what about you?] Queen said, pressing the issue.  
  
[I think Dragon knows things that I don't.] Wolf said firmly.  
  
[Yeah, but if he's wrong.. ] Queen's voice trails off.  
  
The final number pops into place on the screen.  
  
[Did you hear that?] Wolf asked suddenly wary.  
  
[Hear what?] she asked confused.  
  
The window flashed and a new message appeared on the screen. *Trace complete. Call origin: #312-555-0690*  
  
[Are you sure this line is clean?] Wolf asks uneasy, wary.  
  
[Yeah, course I'm sure.] Queen says her tone certain.  
  
[I better go.] Wolf says a slight trace of fear in his voice.  
  
[Yeah. Right. See you on the other side.] Queen answers hanging up.  
  
  
  
~*Beginning of the End:*~  
  
The hotel was abandoned after a fire licked its way across the polyester carpeting, destroying several rooms and causing soot on the walls and ceiling to leave patterns of permanent shadow. Four armed Police officers using flashlights, crept down the blackened hall and readied themselves on either side of room 303. The biggest of them violently kicked in the door, the other cops pouring in behind him, guns thrust before them. "Police! Freeze!" screamed the one who kicked in the door.  
  
The room is almost devoid of furniture. There is a fold-up table and chair with a phone, a modem, and a Notebook computer. The only light in the room is the glow of the computer screen. Sitting there, his hands still on the keyboard, is Wolf; a man in black leather. "Get your hands behind your head!" the cop screamed at him. Wolf rose up out of the chair and turned to face the cop slowly. "Hands behind your head! Now! Do it!" the cop screamed at him again. Wolf slowly placed his hands behind his head, watching the cop.  
  
Outside a black sedan with tinted windows glided in through the police cruisers. Two people climbed out of the car, a man and a woman with her hair up in severe braided buns on either side of her head. Their names are Quinze and Une. They wear dark suits and sunglasses even at night. They are also always hardwired; small Secret Service earphones in one ear, its cord coiling back into their shirt collars. Turning to look at the man in charge, Agent Une narrowed her eyes and spoke coldly. "Lieutenant?"  
  
The Lieutenant glanced over at the two Agents and paled slightly. "Oh shit." he hissed softly.  
  
"Lieutenant, you were given specific orders.." Une began coldly.  
  
"I'm just doing my job. You gimme that jurisdiction shit and you can cram it up your ass." He said crossing his arms across his chest.  
  
"The orders were for your protection." Une continues just as coldly.  
  
The Lieutenant laughed and sneered at her. "I think we can handle one man." Agent Une nodded to Agent Quinze and they started toward the hotel. "I sent two units. They're bringing him down now." the lieutenant called after them.  
  
Agent Une looked back at him and shook her head. She then turned and continued walking towards the hotel. "No, Lieutenant, your men are dead." she said as she left him behind.  
  
Back inside the room, the cop flicked out his cuffs, the other cops holding a bead on Wolf. They've done this a hundred times, they know they've got him, until the leader reaches with the cuff to wrap it around Wolf's wrist and Wolf moves. It almost doesn't register, so smooth and fast, inhumanly fast. The cop blinks and Wolf's palm snaps up, the cop's nose explodes, blood erupting. The cop is dead before he begins to fall. And Wolf is moving again. Seizing a wrist, misdirecting a gun, as a startled cop fires and a head explodes as it hits one of the other cops. In blind panic, another aims his gun and fires at Wolf.  
  
Wolf twists out of the way, his hair flying out behind him like a cape, the bullet missing as he reverses into a roundhouse kick, knocking the gun away. The cop begins to scream when a jump kick crushes his windpipe, killing the scream as he falls to the ground. Wolf looked down at the four bodies. "Shit."  
  
Agent Quinze enters the hotel, while Agent Une heads for the alley.  
  
Wolf was on the phone, pacing. The other end is answered.  
  
//…Operator.//  
  
[T.K.! The link was traced! I don't know how.]  
  
// I know. Stay calm.//  
  
[Are there any agents?]  
  
// Yes. //  
  
[ Goddamn it!]  
  
// You have to focus. There is a phone. Wells and Laxe. You can make it.//  
  
Wolf took a deep breath, centering himself. [All right.. ]  
  
// Go.//  
  
Wolf dropped the phone, and burst out of the room as Agent Quinze entered the hall, leading another unit of police. Racing to the opposite end, he exited through a broken window onto the fire escape. Glancing down to the alley below to see Agent Une staring at him. The only escape would be to go up. On the roof, Wolf ran as Agent Quinze rose over the parapet, leading the cops in pursuit of the tall blonde. Wolf jumped from the roof he was on to the next, and again to the next not looking back. His movement is clean, gliding in and out of each jump, contrasting to the wild jumps of the cops following him. Agent Quinze, however, has the same unnatural grace as Wolf.  
  
The metal scream of an El-Train was heard and Wolf turned towards it, racing for the back of the building. The edge falls away into a wide back alley. The next building is over 40 feet away, Wolf stared at some point beyond the other roof, his face perfectly calm. The cops slowed, seeming to realize they were about to see something ugly as Wolf dove at the edge, launching himself into the air. From above, the ground seemed to flow beneath him as he hung in flight. Then he hit, somersaulted up, continuing to run hard. The cops all stared at the retreating figure. One cop swore as Agent Quinze duplicated the move exactly, landing, rolling over a shoulder, up onto one knee. "What the hell - that's impossible!"  
  
Just below the building are the rumbling tracks of riveted steel. The train screeches beneath him, a rattling blur of gray metal. Wolf jumped down to it landing easily. He looked back just as Agent Quinze hurls through the air barely reaching the last car. Agent Quinze stood up, yanking out a gun aiming at the tall blonde man.  
  
Wolf turned and began running hard for the front of the train as bullets whistled past his head. Ahead he saw his only chance to get off. 50 feet beyond the point where the train has begun to turn, there is a window; a yellow glow in the midst of a dark brick building. Zeroing in on it, he ran as hard as he could, his hair flying back behind him. The scream of steel rises as he nears the edge where the train rocked into the turn.  
  
Wolf hurtled into the empty night space, his body leveling into a dive. He fell, arms covering his head as the whole world seemed to spin on its axis, and he crashed through the window with an explosion of glass and wood onto a back stairwell, tumbling, bouncing down stairs bleeding, broken.  
  
But still alive.  
  
Through the smashed window, he glimpsed Agent Quinze, still on the train, his tie and coat whipping in the wind; stone-faced, he touches his ear piece as the train slides him past the window. Wolf tried to move. Everything hurt. He hissed in pain and closed his eyes for a moment. "Get up, Wolf. You're fine. Get up.. just get up!" he told himself. Standing up, he began to limp down the rest of the stairs.  
  
Walking out of the shadows of the alley he saw it, at the end of the block, in a pool of white street light. The telephone booth. 'Almost finished' he thought as he started towards it, obviously hurt, but focusing in on it completely, his pace quickening as the phone begins to ring. Across the street, a garbage truck suddenly u-turns, its tires screaming as it accelerates. Wolf saw the headlights of the truck highlight the telephone booth as if taking aim. He swore softly and gritting his teeth, ignored the pain, racing the truck to the telephone. Slamming into the booth, the headlights blindingly bright, bore down on the box of Plexiglas just as he answered the phone.  
  
There is a frozen instant of silence before the hulking mass of dark metal lurched up onto the sidewalk, barreling through the booth, bulldozing it into a brick wall, smashing it to Plexiglas pulp. After a moment, a black loafer steps down from the cab of the garbage truck. Agent Une inspects the wreckage. There is no body. Wolf is gone. Her jaw sets as she grinds her molars in frustration. A woman walks up behind her, another agent. "Did you get anything from the room?" Une asks the new agent.  
  
"Their next target. The name is Wing." Agent Dorothy says looking down at the ruins of the telephone booth. The handset of the pay phone lays on the ground, separated in the crash like a severed limb.  
  
"We'll need a search running." Une says callously glaring at the wreckage.  
  
Dorothy smirked and turned to walk away. "It's already begun."  
  
*  
  
Weed-like cables laid coiled everywhere, duct-taped into thickets that wind up and around the legs of several desks within a certain studio apartment. Tabletops are filled with cannibalized equipment that lay open like an autopsied corpse. In the middle of this nest of technology sat a young man. Heero Yuy or as he was known in the underground, Wing, brought up another window and let his fingers fly over the keys of his laptop computer. The answer was here in these files he had just found. He knew it, he could feel he was getting close to finding out just what Oz was. He entered a code and hit enter, waiting for the screen to change.  
  
It did.  
  
But not the way had expected it too.  
  
The screen went black with one word flashed onto the screen. ~Hiya!~  
  
His fingers flew over the keys as he typed. ~*How did you access this computer?*~  
  
More words appeared under what he just wrote. ~Sheesh! No... how are you?~  
  
~*Who are you?*~ he typed back.  
  
If the words could have a voice he would of sworn they sounded smug as a new sentence appeared.  
  
~You can call me Shinigami, Wing.~  
  
~*How do you know my name?*~ he typed frowning, not liking how this was progressing.  
  
~I know a lot about you.~  
  
He was about to type in his response when he saw a new line blinking at him.  
  
~Knock, Knock Wing.~  
  
He glared at the line and then looked up at the hard knock on his door. Glaring once more at the blinking sentence, he stood up. He walked over to the door unlocking, and opening it slightly to look out into the hallway.  
  
"Hello Wing, got the disc?" He glared at the group of people, Nichol in particular.  
  
"Hn.. yes. Just a minute." He shut the door and walked back over to his desk picking up a small disc. Glancing at the monitor he  
  
noticed the sentence had changed.  
  
~Follow the white wolf.~  
  
He frowned and then walked back to the door opening it again. "Here." He said holding out the disc.  
  
Nichol took the disc and pocketed it. "Thanks Wing, you're a life-saver. Hey...want to come with us? We found this great party." Wing frowned at him and was about to say no when he finally noticed the man Nichol was hanging on. Azure eyes glanced at him, then flicked once at Nichol as if to say 'I know he's an ass, but he has his uses' He looked away from the man's eyes, and as he did noticed the tattoo on the man's shoulder.  
  
'Follow the white wolf,..' he thought as he turned his attention back to Nichol. 'Might as well find out what is going on.. then when I find that 'Shinigami' I can knock his head off his shoulders..' he nodded then at Nichol. "Sure, I'll go." he said turning to walk back into his room and glancing at the screen. The sentences were gone and his various windows showing his work were back up on it. Shutting off the laptop, he grabbed his coat and then walked out locking the door behind him. Nichol flashed him a grin and then turned away from him to lead him to the party still hanging on the tall blonde with the tattoo.  
  
Inside an older Tokyo apartment; a series of halls connects a chain of small high-ceilinged rooms lined with heavy casements. Smoke hangs like a veil, blurring the few lights there are. Dressed predominantly in black, people are everywhere, gathered in cliques around pieces of furniture like jungle cats around a tree. Wing stood against a wall, alone, sipping from a bottle of beer, feeling completely out of place, he was about to leave when he noticed the tall blonde that had been with Nichol staring at him. The blonde is Wolf. He walked straight up to Wing.  
  
"Hello, Wing." Wolf said looking down him.  
  
"How did you know that.." Wing asked looking up at him.  
  
"I know a lot about you. I've been wanting to meet you for some time." The other man replied.  
  
"Who are you?" Wing asked.  
  
"My name is Wolf."  
  
"Wolf? The Wolf? The Wolf that cracked the I.R.S. Kansas City Database?" He asked his eyes widening some as he stared at the blonde.  
  
"That was a long time ago." Wolf answered with a slight smile.  
  
"Do you want to go somewhere and talk?" he asked watching him cautiously  
  
"No. It's safe here and I don't have much time." Wolf said glancing around the room. The music was getting louder forcing them closer, and making it necessary to talk directly into each other's ear.  
  
"I can't explain everything to you. I'm sure that it's all going to seem very strange, but I brought you here to warn you, Wing. You are in a lot of danger." Wolf said his baritone voice was surreptitious sounding as he spoke, his eyes flickering over the room as if watching out for something.  
  
"What? Why?" He asked getting a little fed up with all the games that seemed to be going on around him.  
  
"They're watching you. Something happened and they found out about you. Normally, if our target is exposed we let it go. But this time, we can't do that." Wolf said this and his tone held a hidden trace of fear.  
  
"I don't understand what your.." Wing began, but was cut off by Wolf speaking again.  
  
"You came here because you wanted to know the answer to a certain hacker's question."  
  
"OZ. What is OZ?" he said watching the blonde carefully again.  
  
"Sixteen years ago I met a man, a great man, who said that no one could be told the answer to that question. That they had to see it, to believe it." Wolf's body moved to press against Wing's; his lips resting very close to his ear. "He told me that no one should look for the answer unless they have to because once you see it, everything changes. Your life and the world you live in will never be the same. It's as if you wake up one morning and the sky is falling."  
  
There was a hypnotic quality to his voice and Wing could feel the words like a drug, seeping into him. "The truth is out there, Wing. It's looking for you and it will find you, if you want it to." Wolf looked at him locking azure onto dark blue. "That's all I can tell you right now. Good- bye, Wing. And good luck."  
  
"Wait. Who was it? Who was the man?" he asked wanting to know, but feeling he already did.  
  
Wolf leaned close, his lips almost touching his ear as he whispered. "You know who." The blonde turned then and Wing watched him melt into the shifting wall of bodies and disappear.  
  
*  
  
An alarm clock slowly dragged Wing to consciousness. He strained to read the clock face: *9:15 A.M.* Rolling out of bed cursing, he got dressed and ran out the door to work.  
  
Inside the downtown office of ColonTech. The president of the company, Mr. J lectured Wing without looking at him, typing at his computer continuously. Wing stares at two window cleaners on a scaffolding outside, dragging their rubber squeegees down across the surface of the glass. "You have a problem, Mr. Yuy. You think that you're special. You believe that somehow the rules do not apply to you." J stopped, glancing over his glasses at Wing, who turned his attention back to the older man.  
  
"Obviously, you are mistaken." His long, bony fingers resume clicking the keyboard. "This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are a part of a whole. Thus, if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem." J turned to glance at him again. "The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Yuy. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
Wing watched him emotionlessly and then spoke. "Yes, Mr. J. Perfectly clear."  
  
The entire floor looked like a human honeycomb, with a labyrinth of cubicles structured around a core of elevators. Wing sat down into his chair as Trent stood up in the adjacent cubicle, and leaned over the partition. "What did he say?" the other man asked.  
  
"If I was late again, I'm going to be fired." Wing replied with a slight trace of disgust in his voice.  
  
Trent smirked and shook his head snickering. "Well, it was nice working with you." Wing glared at him, and he sank down further into his chair.  
  
"Heero Yuy?" he turned to find a Federal Express worker in front of his cubicle entrance.  
  
"Yes?" he asked. The man held out an electronic pad and a stylus. Signing the pad, the FedEx worker then handed him  
  
the Softpak he carried.  
  
"Have a nice day." The man said cheerfully and then left.  
  
Wing frowned and opened the bag. Inside was a cellular flip phone, the instant it hit his hand, it began to ring. He flipped it open. [Hello?] he asked quietly.  
  
[Hello, Wing. This is Dragon.] Wing's knees gave out and he fell into his chair. [I had hoped for this conversation to take place under less adverse conditions, but you can never count on hope, can you, Wing?]  
  
[. . . no.] he said sitting up in his chair.  
  
[I've been watching you, Wing, and I want to meet you. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, we have run out of time. They're coming for you, Wing. And I'm not sure what they're going to do.]  
  
[Who's coming for me?] he asked getting the same wary feeling he had last night.  
  
[Stand up and see for yourself.] the man on the other end said.  
  
[Right now?] he asked.  
  
[Yes. Now.] Wing started to stand up and he heard the other hiss in warning. [Do it slowly. Slowly. The elevator.] He slowly raised up and looked up over the partition.  
  
At the elevator, he saw Agent Quinze and Agent Dorothy leading a group of cops. A female employee turned and pointed out his cubicle. Wing ducked and cursed. [What the hell do they want with me?!] he hissed into the phone.  
  
[I'm not sure. But, if you don't want to find out, you better get out of there.] The voice was calm and it was slowly getting on his nerves.  
  
[How?!] he hissed.  
  
[I can guide you out, but you have to do exactly what I say.] the man said. Wing listened silently to the agents walking towards his cubicle. [The cubicle across from you is empty.] Dragon said calmly.  
  
[But what if...?] He started to ask him, this sneaking would do him no good if those men saw him while he was trying to get away.  
  
[Go! Now!] the voice on the phone hissed at him. He quickly lunged across the hall, diving into the other cubicle just as the agents turn into his row. Cramming himself into a dark corner, clutching the phone tightly to him, he heard the man speak calmly once more. [Stay here for a moment.]  
  
The agents entered Wing's empty cubicle. Agent Dorothy sent a cop to search the bathroom.  
  
Dragon' voice was a whisper in Wing's ear. [A little longer...]  
  
Quinze spoke with Trent.  
  
[When I tell you, go to the end of the row to the first office on the left, stay as low as you can.] Dragon said quietly. Sweat trickled down Wing's forehead as he waited.  
  
[Now.]  
  
Wing rolled out of the cubicle, his eyes widened slightly as he froze right behind a cop who has just turned around. Staying crouched, he snuck away, down the row, racing across the opening to the first office on the left. The room was empty. [Good. Now there is a window. Open it.]  
  
[How do you know all this?] He asked as he walked over quickly to the window and opened it. Dragon laughed quietly over the phone.  
  
[The answer is coming, Wing. Outside, there's a scaffold. You can use it to get to the roof.]  
  
He leans out of the window and sees the scaffold, also noting that its several offices away from the one he was currently in. He ducked back inside the room and hissed into the phone. [No! It's too far away.]  
  
[There's a small ledge. It's a short climb. You can make it. ] Dragon assured him.  
  
Wing looked down; the building's glass wall turned into a concrete abyss. [No way, no way, this is crazy.]  
  
[Don't be controlled by your fear, Wing. There are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you.] He listened to the phone as it made a soft click. He looked back at the door, then again at the scaffold.  
  
"This is insane! Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I'm nobody. I didn't do anything. So why the hell are the after me?!" He climbed up onto the window ledge. Hanging onto the frame, he steps onto the small ledge on the outside of the office window. The wind blew hard at him but he kept his grip and slowly inched his way towards the scaffold. He got close enough to the scaffold and then seized a hold of it and climbed onto it. He heard a shout and looked over to see one of the cops leaning out the window he had come though.  
  
Using the controls he made the scaffold rise to the roof and then hurried across it to the ladder on the other side that he spotted. Climbing down it quickly, he dropped down and heard the sound of tires screeching. Spinning around to face the sound, he saw a dark van stop and the side door open. The tall blonde, Wolf, stepped out of it and motioned him over to the van. Running over to him he looked up at the smiling azure. "You here to keep me out of their hands?" He asked Wolf.  
  
Wolf nodded and then jerked his head towards the van. "Get in, we have to get out of here before those Agents get out of the building and find us." Wing nodded and climbed into the van glancing once at the two guys inside it. Wolf climbed in after him and slammed the door shut. "Step on it." He told the large guy sitting behind the wheel. The guy nodded and gunned the engine taking off once more screeching the tires as he sped away. Wolf then glanced at him, smiled and sat down on the floor of the van. "In case your wondering, the guy behind the wheel is Ernie and the other guy is called Gizmo. Gizmo was kind enough to loan us the use of his van so I could pick you up."  
  
The van stopped in a deserted alley behind a hotel. "Thanks for your help, Gizmo." Wolf said as he opened the side door of the van and Wing climbed out.  
  
"I just hope the man knows what he's doing." Gizmo replied seriously. Wolf nodded, then climbed out of the van. Gizmo watching him, whistled at the way the muscles moved under Wolf's tight leather pants. "Goddamn, what I wouldn't give for a copy of that software." he said with a grin.  
  
Wolf turned around, raising an eyebrow he smirked at the man inside the van. "Gizmo, you don't have the hardware to handle this software." Gizmo laughed at the teasing and was still snickering as he told Ernie they could go now. Wolf turned to face Wing. "Let's go. He's waiting." he said seriously and then turned to the hotel.  
  
It was a place of decaying elegance, but as Wolf led Wing up the stairwell, he seemed to pay the surroundings no attention. They left the stairwell and headed down the hall of the thirteenth floor, stopping outside room 1313. "This is it." Wolf said they stopped in front of the door.  
  
Wolf looked down at Wing, the azure eyes serious as he spoke again quietly. "Let me give one piece of advice. Be honest. He knows more than you can possibly imagine." He then opened the door and gestured for Wing to enter.  
  
Walking inside, Wing gave the room a once over and the glanced at the figure standing across the room. The other man stood staring out of a tall window veiled with crumbling lace. The man turned and smiled. "At last." the man said softly, as he looked Wing over. He stood there wearing a long black coat, his eyes hidden behind the circular mirrored glasses he wore. He walked towards Wing and held out his hand. "Welcome, Wing. As you no doubt have guessed, I am Dragon." the man said warmly.  
  
"It's an honor." Wing replied calmly.  
  
Dragon smiled again and then gestured towards the two chairs in front of a fireplace. "Please. Come. Sit." He then glanced at Wolf and nodded silently. "Thank you, Wolf." The tall blonde bowed his head sharply and left the room through a different door, most likely to an adjacent room. Dragon then walked over to the cracked burgundy-leather chairs that he had pointed out earlier and sat across from Wing. "I imagine, right now, you must be feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole?" he said with a trace of amusement.  
  
"You could say that." Wing said as he sat on the edge of his chair watching the young man in front of him.  
  
"I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up." A smile, razor-thin, curled the corner of Dragon's lips. "Ironically, this is not far from the truth. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Can you tell me, Wing, why are you here?"  
  
"You're The Dragon, you're a legend. Most hackers would die to meet you." Wing said honestly.  
  
Dragon nodded his head faintly. "Yes. Thank you. But I think we both know there's more to it than that. Do you believe in fate, Wing?" he asked watching the man sitting across from him.  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?" Dragon asked folding his hands in his lap leaning back into the seat.  
  
"Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life." Wing answered frowning faintly.  
  
"I know exactly what you mean." the man said. Once again, his smile could've cut glass. "Let me tell you why you are here. You are here because you have the gift." he spoke with a firm certain tone.  
  
"What gift?"  
  
"I've watched you, Wing. You do not use a computer like a tool. You use it like it was part of yourself. What you can do inside  
  
a computer is not normal. I know. I've seen it. What you do is magic." The man's voice seemed to have a trace of excitement in it as he spoke.  
  
Wing shrugged and gave him an almost bored look. "It's not magic." he said, his voice lacking any trace of emotion.  
  
"But it is, Wing. It is. How else would you describe what has been happening to you?" Dragon leaned forward as he continued to talk. "We are trained in this world to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why?" Wing shook his head, watching him silently as Dragon continued again. "As children, we do not separate the possible from the impossible which is why the younger a mind is the easier it is to free while a mind like yours can be very difficult."  
  
Wing frowned again and then asked. "Free from what?"  
  
"From OZ."  
  
Wing looked at Dragon's eyes but only saw himself reflected in the glasses.  
  
"Do you want to know what it is, Wing?"  
  
He considered briefly and then nodded.  
  
Dragon tilted his head slightly "It's that feeling you have had all your life. That feeling that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad, driving you to me. But what is it?" The leather creaked as he leaned back once more in the chair. "OZ is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."  
  
"What truth?" Wing asked raising an eyebrow slightly.  
  
"That you are a slave, Wing. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage - kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind." Outside, the wind battered a loose pane of glass. "Unfortunately, no one can be told what OZ is. You have to see it for yourself."  
  
"How?" he asked, his attention caught by the man's speech.  
  
"Hold out your hands." Wing watched him for a moment wary and then did as he asked and held out both hands palm up. In his right hand, Dragon dropped a red pill. "This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back." Dragon said as he dropped a blue pill into his left palm.  
  
"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe." Wing glanced up at him, the pills in his open hands were reflected in the glasses the other man wore. He glanced back down at his hands. "You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." Dragon leaned back into the chair waiting. Wing felt the smooth skin of the capsules, and then glanced again at Dragon. "Remember that all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more." the young man said, calmly watching him. Wing kept his eyes on the other man as he opened his mouth and swallowed the red pill. The other man's Cheshire smile returned.  
  
Dragon stood up and then turned to walk towards the door Wolf had left through. "Follow me." he said as he opened the door and led Wing into the other room. Which was crammed with high-tech equipment, glowing ash-blue and electric green from the racks of monitors. Wolf, Kat and Queen looked up as they walked in.  
  
"Shit." Queen said from where she was sitting.  
  
Wolf smiled. "I knew he would." he said.  
  
Queen walked up to Dragon, and spoke in a hushed tone away from Wing. "Dragon, I know what you believe but I think this is a mistake. We're rushing him. He's old. I'm afraid he might pop."  
  
Dragon glanced at her in disapproval. "Haven't I always told you, Queen, not to let fear control your life. Kat, are we on-line?" he asked the auburn haired woman sitting at one of the computers.  
  
"Almost." she replied helping Wolf to quickly hardwire a complex system of monitors, modules and drives.  
  
Wing glanced over at the tall auburn haired woman is slight disbelief. "Kat? You wrote the Four Horsemen Virus."  
  
She looked up and smiled at him. "That's right." she said.  
  
Dragon set a slim hand on Wing's shoulder. "Wing, time is always against us. Will you take a seat there?" he asked gesturing to the center of the room, where a chair sat. "I imagine you know something about virtual reality."  
  
Wing sat down, and Wolf began to gently fix white electrode disks to his head, arms, and the back of his neck. He glanced at him and then turned his attention back to Dragon. "A little." he said.  
  
"Tell me about it." Dragon said leaning back against the wall.  
  
"Essentially, it's a hardware system that uses an apparatus; headgear, gloves and whatever to make you feel that you are in a computer program." he explained watching him.  
  
"If the virtual reality apparatus, as you called it, was wired to all of your senses and controlled them completely, would you be able to tell the difference between the virtual world and the real world?" Dragon asked.  
  
"You might not, no." he said, wondering where he was going with this.  
  
"No, you wouldn't." the young man said.  
  
Wing turned his head slightly to glance up at Wolf. "You did all this?" he whispered to him. Wolf nodded, placing a set of headphones over his ears. He noticed they were wired to an old hotel phone.  
  
"The pill you took is part of a trace program. It's going to make things feel a bit strange." Dragon said straightening up and walking away from the wall to an old cracked oval dressing mirror that stood near the chair.  
  
Distantly, through the ear phones, he heard Kat pounding on a keyboard. Sweat beaded on his face. Blinking, his eyes twitched when he noticed the actions happening to the mirror. Wide-eyed he stared as it began to heal itself, a web work of cracks that slowly ran together as though the mirror were becoming liquid. "Shit..." he whispered to himself.  
  
Queen worked with Kat checking reams of phosphorescent data. Wolf monitored Wing's electric vital signs. Wing reached out to touch the mirror and his fingers disappeared beneath the rippling surface. Quickly, he tried to pull his fingers out but the mirror stretched in long rubbery strands like mirrored-taffy stuck to his fingertips. "What is this? Mescaline?" he asked, a trace of fear in his voice.  
  
"Just relax, Wing." he heard Dragon's voice say.  
  
The strands thinned like rubber cement, as he pulled away Thinning until the fragile wisps of thread-like mirror broke. With a tinkling of glass, shimmering snowflakes of electric-blinking mercury fell, hitting the ground, and fading. Wing looked at his hand; his fingers were distended into mirrored icicles, that had begun to melt rapidly, dripping, and running like wax down his fingers, to spread across his palms where he saw his face reflected back at him. He distantly heard Wolf's voice. "It's going into replication."  
  
"Kat?" Dragon asked glancing over at her.  
  
She shook her head frowning. "Still nothing."  
  
Dragon took out a cellular phone and dialed a number. [Nanashi, we're going to need the signal soon.] he said into the phone. Glancing over at Wing, he spoke watching him. " Stay calm, Wing."  
  
The mirror gel seemed to come to life, racing, crawling up his arms like hundreds of insects. "It's cold." Wing said softly watching it. The mirror crept up his neck, and Wing began to panic, tipping his head as if he were sinking into the mirror, trying to keep his mouth up. "It's all over me .." he said, the fear in his voice stronger now. Dragon stood right next to the chair, with the phone.  
  
"I got a fibrillation!" Wolf cried out watching the monitors.  
  
"I knew it, I knew it... " Queen said glancing from the other monitor towards Wing and Dragon.  
  
Dragon frowned and looked up at Kat. "Shit! Kat?" he asked, his tone urgent.  
  
Streams of mercury ran from Wing's nose. "Targeting... almost there." Kat said watching the computer monitors closely.  
  
An alarm, on Wolf's monitor erupted. Wolf screamed at Dragon not taking his eyes off the monitor. "He's going into arrest!"  
  
"He's gonna pop!" Queen screeched from where she sat.  
  
Kat sat on the edge of her chair, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "Lock! I got him!" she cried.  
  
Dragon brought the phone back up screaming into it. [Now, Nanashi now!]  
  
Wing's eyes, covered with mirror, rolled up and closed as a high-pitched electric scream erupted in the headphones; it was a piercing shriek like a computer calling to another computer. Wing's body arched in agony.  
  
*  
  
A man floating in a womb-red gel. His body spasms, fighting against the thick gelatin. Metal tubes, surreal versions of hospital tubes, obscure his face. Other lines like IVs are connected to limbs and cover his genitals. He struggles desperately now. Air bubbles into the gelatin but does not break the surface. Pressing up, the surface distends, stretching like a red rubber cocoon. Unable to breathe, he fights wildly to stand, clawing at the thinning elastic shroud -  
  
Until it ruptures, a hole widening around his mouth as he sucks for air. Tearing himself free, he emerges from the cell. It is Wing. He is bald and naked, his body slick with gelatin. Dizzy, nauseous, he waited for his vision to focus. He is standing in an oval capsule of clear alloy filled with red gelatin, the surface of which has solidified like curdled milk. The IVs in his arms are plugged into outlets that appear to be grafted to his flesh. He felt the weight of another cable and reached to the back of his head where he found an enormous coaxial plugged and locked into the base of his skull. He tried to pull it out but it would be easier to pull off a finger.  
  
To either side he saw other tube-shaped pods filled with red gelatin; beneath the wax-like surface, pale and motionless, he saw other human beings. Stacked row upon row, there are more. All connected to a center core, each capsule like a red, dimly glowing petal, attached to a black metal stem. Above him, level after, level, the stem rises seemingly forever. He moved to the foot of the capsule and looked out. The image presented assaulted his mind. Towers of glowing spiral up to incomprehensible heights, disappearing down into a dim murk like an underwater abyss. His sight is blurred and warped, exaggerating the intensity of the vision. The sound of the plant is like the sound of the ocean heard from inside the belly of Leviathan.  
  
Below Wing, a petal detaches from the stem, bearing away the body of an old man like an automated barge even as a new pod rises up and plugs itself into the empty space. Inside the new capsule, its surface more translucent and pinkish in color, Wing saw a small baby. From above, a machine drops directly in front of Wing. He swallowed his scream as it seemed to stare at him. It is almost insect-like in its design; beautiful housings of alloyed metal covering organic-like systems of hard and soft polymers. A black particle beam washed over Wing, he reacted in pain as the scanner seemed to expose the nervous system wired to the coaxial cable at his cerebral cortex.  
  
At the back of the neck, the cable lock spun and opened, disengaging itself. The cable pulled itself free, a long clear plastic needle and cerebrum-chip slid from the anterior of Wing's skull with an ooze of blood and spinal fluid. The other connective hoses snap free and snake away as the back of the unit opened. A tremendous vacuum, like an airplane door opening, suck the gelatin and then Wing into a black hole. The pipe is a waste disposal system and Wing fell, sliding with the clot of gelatin. Falling down, the pipe spiraled and elbowed through grease traps clogged with clumps of cellulite. Wing had begun to drown when he was suddenly snatched from the flow of waste. The metallic cable lifted, pulling him up into the belly of the machine, hovering inside the sewer's main line.  
  
*  
  
The metal harness opened and dropped the half-conscious Wing onto the floor. Human hands and arms helped him up as he found himself looking straight at Dragon, Wolf and Kat. Dragon smiled. "Welcome to the real world, Wing." he said quietly.  
  
Wing passed out.  
  
  
  
Wing's eyes opened slowly. He glanced up to see Wolf's face above him, angelic in the fluorescent glow of a light stick.  
  
"... am I dead?" he asked watching him.  
  
Wolf smiled down at him. "Far from it." he said softly. Wing closed his eyes again and fell back to sleep.  
  
When Wing opened his eyes again, he felt something tingling through him. Focusing, he saw his body pierced with dozens of acupuncture-like needles wired to a strange device. Then he heard voices. He tried to lift his head to see them but was unable to.  
  
"He needs a lot of work." A female voice said quietly.  
  
"I know." said a familiar male voice.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked.  
  
An old man moved into his view, slowly he recognized him as Dragon. "Your muscles have atrophied. We're rebuilding them." he said.  
  
The fluorescent light sticks seemed to burn unnaturally bright, and Wing shut his eyes against the glare. "Why do my eyes hurt?" he asked the older man, opening his eyes again slightly to look at him again.  
  
"You've never used them before." Dragon said calmly taking off his sunglasses and placing them over Wing's eyes. "Rest, Wing. The answers are coming." he assured him. 


	2. Part 2

(II)  
  
Wing woke up again, He sat up, and began to examine himself. He was dressed in a dark tank top and a pair of black pants. Glancing at the IV plugged into his forearm, he pulled it out, and stared at the grafted outlet. Frowning faintly, he ran a hand over his head, and noticed that he had no hair, he dismissed this as unimportant. He ran his fingers down to the back of his neck and explored the large outlet that was in base of his skull. 'What the hell..' he thought to himself scowling now. Looking up, he saw Dragon standing inside the door. He watched him and then realized something, the man standing in front of him was older than the person he had met in the motel. "Dragon, what is going on? Where the hell am I?"  
  
"More important than what is when?" Dragon said coming inside the room sitting down across from him  
  
"When?" he asked.  
  
"You believe the year is AC 197 when in fact it is much closer to AC 697. I can't say for certain what year it is because we honestly do not know." Dragon said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.  
  
"That's not possible." Wing said, his eyes widening slightly as he watched the older Chinese man.  
  
"I promised you the truth, Wing, and the truth is that the world you were living in was a lie."  
  
"How?" he asked, getting to his feet.  
  
Dragon stood and walked back to the door. "I'll show you." he said as he walked out of the room.  
  
Wing followed him noting that everything was colored in hues of dark gray and black. He looked up at the older man as he spoke again. "This is my ship, the Nataku. It's a hovercraft. Small like a submarine. It's dark, cramped and cold. But it's home." Dragon said with a trace of soft amusement. They came to a ladder and he followed Dragon as he climbed up. As he straightened up, he scanned the area and saw several people standing around that he didn't recognize. "This is the main deck. You know most of my crew." Dragon said turning to look at him and gesture at the people standing behind him. He then saw a tall blonde man step forwards and smile at him softly, nodding faintly.  
  
"The ones you don't know." Dragon continued, walking to stand beside a young man with a surprisingly long braid. "This is Shinigami," he said laying a hand on the young man's shoulder. "No end.." he gestured to a woman with violet eyes who smiled at him. "Nanashi and Mau'dieb.." the hand waved over two men sitting next to each other, the taller one's face was half-hidden by his hair. He then turned as he heard someone walk up behind him. "And that is Po, she is our doctor. She helped me put you back into shape." The woman looked him over once and then nodded once in approval it seemed, before walking over to wrap an arm around No end.  
  
Dragon walked over to a swamp of electronic equipment. Vines of coaxial hang and snake to and from huge monolithic battery slabs, a black portable satellite dish and banks of little systems and computer monitors. "And this, this is the Base. This is where we broadcast our rebel signal and hack into OZ." Dragon said walking over the center of the web of technology. Wing walked over, following him and glanced at the seven exoskeleton chairs that had been fitted with suspension harnesses. He looked over past the circle of chairs, to study the control console and operator's station where the network looked to be monitored.  
  
" It is time you met the last of our crew, help him Wolf." Dragon ordered standing beside the chairs still.  
  
Wing glanced at Wolf silently and let the taller man help him into one of the chairs. He glanced over at Dragon as he moved to stand by his chair.  
  
"Do you remember when I asked you about an apparatus that could turn a virtual reality into reality?" Dragon asked.  
  
Wing nodded.  
  
Dragon touched Wing's head. "It's right here." he said. He then moved his hand and touched the jack in the base of his head. "And it's accessed here." he said, as he guided a coaxial line into the jack. "This will feel a little weird." he said quietly as he snapped it in. Wing winced, his muscles stiffening for a moment and then they relaxed. Then everything went white.  
  
"This is the Construct." a voice said behind him suddenly. Wing spun around and found the younger Dragon now standing behind him. "It is our loading program. We can load anything from clothes, to weapons, to training simulations. Anything we need." the Chinese youth continued.  
  
Dragon then walked past Wing, and he turned and frowned faintly as he watched Dragon embrace another man that had been sitting in a leather chair that sat in front of a large-screen television. The other turned then to glance at him and stood up. The ginger haired man studied him and then glanced down again at the man beside him.  
  
// He is the *one*? //  
  
Dragon nodded.  
  
Wing shook his head, and blinked. The older man's voice had sounded very strange. He then heard Dragon laugh softly and he looked up.  
  
Dragon was smiling at him and then wrapped an arm around the other man. "You'll get used to his voice Wing. Just give it time."  
  
Wing walked over frowning faintly still, and studied the man. There was something about him he couldn't place his finger on, but he dismissed it as Dragon moved away from the man to show that two more chairs had appeared.  
  
"Sit down, please." Dragon said sitting in the chair next to the other man.  
  
Wing stood behind the chair watching them. "Right now, we're inside a computer program?" he asked.  
  
Dragon grinned at him. "Wild, isn't it?" he said and then took the other man's hand in his own. "Before I forget to, this is T.K. or Khush, he is the last member in our crew. He'll be giving you the answers you wanted."  
  
Wing's ran his hands over the cracked leather and then looked at them. "This isn't real?"  
  
The older man looked away from Dragon and studied Wing silently for a moment before he spoke.  
  
// What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're  
  
talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain. //  
  
He picked up a remote control off the side of the chair and turned on the television.  
  
// This is the Japan you know. Japan as it was at the end of the time of AC 196. This Japan exists only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that is called OZ. //  
  
He clicked a button and changed the channel.  
  
// You have been living inside someone's vision, inside the map, not the territory. This is Japan as it exists today. //  
  
The sky was an endless sea of black and green fury. The earth was scorched and split like burnt flesh.  
  
// *The desert of the real.* //  
  
In the distance, Wing saw the ruins of Japan jutting out from the wasteland like blackened ribs of a long-dead corpse.  
  
// We are, right now, miles below the earth's surface. The only place humans can survive outside OZ is underground, or in Space if one could find a way to get there. //  
  
Wing turned away from looking at the ruins and discovered that now only he and the man called Khush were there. The chairs were now sitting in the middle of the black desert. Wing held onto the chair and watched the ginger haired man who brought out a pair of mirrored sunglasses like Dragon had wore during their first meeting. He put them on, covering his sapphire eyes and looked up at him. "What happened?" Wing asked him.  
  
// It started after the colonies had been built, in the year AC 199. There was a small battle between two nations that grew to suck in more nations. It became a war. Some people fled Earth to the colonies. The war continued though until it engulfed the Earth in complete chaos and conflict. After year AC 299, the war was all the people who were still on the Earth knew of. Peace had been completely forgotten, it was a foreign concept, known only to the people who lived in space. The Colonies had been cut off by the conflict that tore Earth apart, so the war never touched them. //  
  
// Finally, when I became a General in one of the opposing armies, in the year AC 315. I grew tired of the meaningless fighting. I constructed a plan and then used my weight within the army to have it carried out. Someone under me designed a system that was to help the plan be carried out. It worked, to a degree.//  
  
Khush's lips drew into a faint frown as he leaned his elbows on the arms of the chair and clasped his hands together in front of him.  
  
// The machines I created brought peace to war-torn Earth, things began to heal. Soon though things shifted as the system that the man under me created gave birth to artificial intelligence, a singular consciousness that began to make its own decisions. I tried to warn them. They called me a liar, threw me out of the government that had been created to watch over Earth. //  
  
Wing watched T.K as he rested his chin on his hands, in his sunglasses, he watched storm clouds gather.  
  
// I decided to try a different way of stopping what I saw was about to come to pass. In the end I was too late and not powerful enough to prevent it though. The system which had been dubbed *ZERO* by its creator had taken over the government, killing those that had once ruled it and began to take over the people of the Earth. I managed to get an army of free humans behind me and we tried to stop the machines. //  
  
Wing watched the circular mirrors of the glasses, watching as explosions lit up a bloody battle field.  
  
// I don't know really who struck the first true harming blow. Us or them. But sometime at the end of AC 397, the battle was joined, each of us striking hard back as we could back and forth.//  
  
Wing flinched slightly as the war seemed to leave the glasses Khush wore and surrounded them.  
  
//The war raged for generations and turned the face of the planet from green and blue to black and red.//  
  
Wing heard screams and spun around to see machines; killing machines that were at once terrifying and beautiful. Some looked insect-like, other's mimicked the human's they killed. Rainbow shades of color covered their armor, and they hunted the soldiers retreating from the battle field. One caught a soldier and cracked open the body armor of a soldier, and fried the man within it.  
  
// The war scorched and burned the sky. Some foolishly thought that we had won, because without the sun the Gundam's were without a power source. But I knew better, the Gundam's sought out a new energy source to survive. //  
  
The Gundam in front of Wing locked up, as heat lightning, black as ink burst against the sky, spreading into a permanent cloud of ebony stain.  
  
// They discovered a new form of fusion. All that was required to initiate the reaction was a small electric charge. Throughout human history we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of twisted irony. //  
  
Wing watched the scenery change into the power plant that he had escaped from, he saw human beings inside the cocoons, with almost blissful looks on their faces.  
  
// The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 B.T.U. of body heat. //  
  
The scene changed once again, Wing took in the area spreading around the power plant. Beneath a breathing greenhouse, there were huge fields.  
  
// Humans are, as an energy source, easily renewable and completely recyclable, the dead liquefied and fed intravenously to the living. Sounds like a bad horror flick, eh? //  
  
Wing watched as huge farm-like reapers began to enter the fields.  
  
// All they needed to control this new battery was something to occupy the human mind. If one cannot remember the enemy, one cannot fight it. //  
  
The scene in front of Wing changed again and he watched as it closed in on a clear tubular husk. Inside it floating in viscous fluid, there was a human fetus; its soft skull already growing around the brain-jack.  
  
// And so they built a prison out of our past, wired it to the human brain and turned the humans on Earth into slaves. //  
  
Wing turned away from the images to face Khush. He blinked and shook his head as the surroundings became white once more and he glanced at the television to see the image of the fetus on the screen. Wing backed away from the chair staring slightly wide-eyed at the ginger haired man. "No! I don't believe it! It's not possible!" he cried.  
  
// Dragon didn't say that it would be easy, Wing. He just said that it would be the truth. // Khush said standing up watching him from behind the mirrored glasses.  
  
Wing backed away from him and then stumbled as the room began to spin around him. He wrapped his arms around his head. "Stop! Let me out! I want out!" he screamed closing his eyes.  
  
Inside the Nataku, Wing's eyes snapped open and he thrashed against the chair, trying to rip the cable from the back of his neck. "Get this thing out of me!" he screamed.  
  
Wolf took his hands away from the cable. "Easy, Wing. Easy." he said as Mau'dieb walked over to help him. Mau'dieb held him while Wolf stepped behind him and unlocked the cable, sliding it out.  
  
Once he felt it leave, he tore away from both of them, falling as he tripped free of the harness on the chair. Wolf stepped around the chair to help him to his feet. Wing flinched back away from him. "Don't touch me! Get away from me!" he screamed at them. He moved to rest on his hands and knees, closing his eyes as the world spun around him again. Sweat poured off him as a pressure built inside his skull, feeling as if his brain had been put into a centrifuge.  
  
"He's going to pop!" Queen screeched as she watched him from where she sat by the monitors. Wing pitched forward suddenly and blacked out.  
  
*  
  
Wing blinked, regaining consciousness, the room was dark. He glanced around and found himself back in the bed he had woken up in earlier. He felt the older man sitting in his room watching him. "I can't go back, can I?" he asked quietly.  
  
Dragon leaned back sitting like a shadow in a chair in the far corner of the room. "No. But if you could, would you really want to?" he asked softly watching Wing. Wing wasn't sure of his answer, so he remained silent. Dragon continued quietly. "I feel that I owe you an apology. There is a rule that T.K had made before.." he shook his head and sighed before continuing. "We do not free a mind once it reaches a certain age. It is dangerous. They have trouble letting go.. Their mind turns against them. I've seen it happen. I broke the rule because I had to." Dragon turned and stared off into the darkness of the room, confessing as much to himself as Wing.  
  
"When OZ first came into being as the thing it is now, there was a person that was able to make OZ behave as he saw fit. It was this person that freed the first of us and taught us the secret of the war; control the OZ and you control the future." Dragon paused. "When he was killed by OZ, the Oracle of Sanc prophesied one that could help his mind return and envisioned an end to the war and freedom for our people. That is why there are those of us that have spent our entire lives searching the OZ, looking for him." Dragon looked back at Wing. "I did what I did, because I believe we have been brought here for a reason, Wing. You are here to serve a purpose, just as I am here to serve mine." He finished watching him.  
  
Wing scowled slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, still lying down on the bed. "I told you I don't believe in fate."  
  
Dragon smiled, and leaned towards him. "But I do, Wing. I do." he said softly. He stood up and then looked down at Wing. "Get some rest. You're going to need it." he said walking to the door.  
  
"For what?" Wing asked him.  
  
Dragon glanced back and smiled. "Your training." he said as he shut the door.  
  
*  
  
Wing was awake in his bed, staring up at the lights, when the door opened and Nanashi stepped inside. "Morning. Did you sleep?" the tall man asked, watching Wing through his one visible green eye.  
  
"No." Wing answered simply, sitting up on the bed.  
  
Nanashi gave him a nod.. "You will tonight. I guarantee it. I'm Nanashi. I'll be your operator." he said offering his hand.  
  
Wing shook it, then noticed that Nanashi didn't have any jacks. "You don't have.." he began.  
  
"Any holes? Nope. Me and my lover, Mau'dieb, we are 100 percent pure human. Born free. Right here in the real world. Genuine child of Sanc." Nanashi said.  
  
Wing stood up. "Sanc?" he asked.  
  
"Sanc is the place. You'll see it one day. Last human city. Only thing we have left." Nanashi said smiling faintly. He turned and walked to stand in the doorway. "Let's go we have a lot of work to do today." Wing nodded and followed him out and up to the main deck.  
  
Nanashi plugged Wing in, and then walked over to the Base, turning once to give him another faint smile. "We're supposed to load all these operations programs first, but this is some major boring shit. Why don't we start something a little fun?" He sat down in his operator's chair and began flipping through a tall carousel loaded with micro-discs. "How about sore combat training?" he said holding up one of the discs.  
  
Wing read the label on the disc "Jujitsu? I'm going to learn jujitsu?" Nanashi slid the disk into Wing's supplement drive. "No way." he said, watching the long banged man sitting in the chair. Smiling faintly, Nanashi punched the "load" code. Wing's body jumped against the harness as his eyes clamped shut. The monitors kick wildly as his heart pounded, and adrenaline surged. An instant later his eyes snapped open. "Holy shit!" he said, catching his breath.  
  
Nanashi snickered softly at his reaction. "Hey, Mikey, he likes it! Ready for more?" he asked Wing.  
  
Wing looked over at him and smiled slightly. "Hell yes!"  
  
On the monitor of Nanashi's computer, gray pixels slowly filled a small, half-empty box. It's a meter displaying how much download time is left. The title bar read: *Combat Series 10 of 12,* file categories flashing beneath it: *Jujitsu, Ken Po, Drunken Boxing.. *  
  
Dragon walked in, glancing at Wing then to Nanashi. "How is he?"  
  
Nanashi looked at his watch. "Ten hours straight. He's a machine."  
  
Wing's body shook and then relaxed as his eyes opened, breath hissing from his lips. He looked at Dragon. "This is incredible. I know Kung Fu." he said, with a small smile.  
  
Dragon sat in the chair next to him. He nodded to Nanashi. "Show me." he told Wing closing his eyes.  
  
  
  
They stand in a very sparse Japanese-style dojo. "This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of the OZ. Consider this your first lesson." Dragon said, as he assumed a fighting stance. "Attack me."  
  
Wing assumes a similar stance, cautiously circling until he gave a short cry and launched a furious attack. Fists and feet striking from every angle, Wing pressed his attack. But each and every blow is blocked by Dragon with effortless speed.  
  
While their minds battled in the programmed reality, the two bodies appeared quite serene, suspended in the chairs. Nanashi monitored their life systems noticing that Wing was wildly and chaotically lit up as opposed to the slow and steady rhythm of Dragon.  
  
Inside the mess hall of the ship, dinner is up. Everyone, besides the three in the Base, is eating bowls of single-cell protein, which has an oatmeal consistency. Shinigami bursts in the room, braid flying behind him. "Dragon is fighting Wing!" he shouted as he spun and then dashed back out. All at once they bolted for the door running towards the Base.  
  
Back inside the dojo, Wing's face is knotted, teeth clenched, as he hurled himself at Dragon.  
  
"Good. Adaptation. Improvisation. But your weakness isn't your technique." Dragon said as he evaded Wing again. He attacked Wing, feet and fists flying everywhere taking Wing apart. For every blow Wing blocked, five more hit their marks until - Wing fell.  
  
Panting, on his hands and knees, Wing's blood dripped from his mouth speckling the white floor of the Dojo. "How did I beat you?" Dragon asked him still standing over him, watching him through mirrored glasses once more.  
  
"You - You're too fast." Wing said.  
  
"Do you think my being faster, stronger has anything to do with my muscles in this place?" Dragon said, raising an eyebrow above the rim of the glasses. Wing was getting frustrated, still unable to catch his breath. "Do you believe that's air you are breathing now?" Dragon asked him.  
  
Wing looked up squinting at him.  
  
"If you can free your mind, the body will follow." the Chinese man said.  
  
Wing stood, nodding.  
  
"Again." Dragon said, stepping back and going back into position. They begin again, their fists flying with unbelievable speed.  
  
Everyone is gathered behind Nanashi, watching the fight, like watching a television show. "Allah! That boy is fast!" Mau'dieb said as he leaned over Nanashi.  
  
"Have you ever seen anyone that fast that soon, Nanashi?" Shinigami said, as he watched the pair fight.  
  
Nanashi leaned back in his seat and shook his head. "Never."  
  
Kat stared at the monitor. "Dragon is right. He's got to be the one."  
  
Back inside the dojo, the speed of the blows rose impossibly high. Wing's face shed its mask of calm with a scream. He wanted to beat Dragon, he wanted to beat him now. Finally a single blow caught Dragon on the side of the head, knocking his glasses off.  
  
Back in Base, there were several gasps. "I don't believe it!" Shinigami cried as he watched the glasses fall.  
  
Dragon rubbed the side of his face. "You are angry with me." he stated.  
  
Wing panted getting his wind back. ".. maybe." he said, looking into Dragon's black eyes.  
  
Dragon nodded. "It's all right. It's natural." he said, lowering his hand from his face.  
  
"I feel better." Wing admitted.  
  
Dragon nodded again, watching him. "Good. Anger is a gift, Wing, but it's a heavy one." Dragon smiled. "Nanashi, load the jump program." he ordered.  
  
Wing straightened as the dojo dissolved away like a curtain lifting, leaving them now standing on a building rooftop in a city skyline.  
  
"You have to learn to let go of that anger. You must let go of everything." Dragon said, as the wind howled around them, whipping Dragon's long coat to one side. "You must empty yourself to free your mind." he said. He spun, running hard towards the edge of the rooftop, and jumped. He sailed through the air, his coat billowing out behind him like a cape, somersaults once and lands on the rooftop across the street.  
  
Wing stared at him. "Shit." he said, watching as Dragon stood and looked back at him, waiting. He looked down at the street twenty floors below, then at Dragon an impossible fifty feet away. "Okay." he said, taking a deep breath. "Yeah. Free my mind. Right. No problem." he said quietly to himself. He concentrated, and ran.  
  
Inside Base, they are transfixed. "He's going to make it." Mau'dieb said quietly.  
  
Kat shook her head faintly, not taking her eyes off the screen. "No way. Not possible." she said.  
  
"No one's ever made their first jump." Shinigami said, leaning on Kat's shoulder watching Wing on the monitor.  
  
"What if he does?" No end asked.  
  
Kat shook her head again slightly. "He won't." she answered.  
  
"It's never been done." Nanashi said, his single eye fixed on the screen.  
  
Wolf stared at the screen, his fists clenching. "Come on." he whispered.  
  
  
  
Back on the rooftop, Wing summoned every ounce of strength in his legs, and launched himself into the air with a single maniacal shriek - but comes up drastically short. His eyes widened slightly as he fell. Stories flew by, the ground rushed up at him, but when he hit - the ground gave way, stretching like a trapeze net. Wing bounced and flipped, slowly he came to a rest, flat on his back. He laughed softly, a bit unsure, and wiped the wind-blown tears from his face.  
  
Dragon walked out of the building and helped him to his feet. "Everyone falls the first time." he said quietly to Wing.  
  
Wing nodded quietly, he understood what he meant.  
  
"If you never know failure, how can you know success?" Dragon finished, taking his glasses out of his coat and placing them back on his face.  
  
Back inside Base, the suspense over, the group broke up going their separate ways. "What does it mean?" Shinigami asked, glancing at the monitor and then at the others.  
  
"It doesn't mean anything." Mau'dieb said, as he sat down in the chair Nanashi had been sitting in.  
  
Queen grinned and then looked back towards where Wolf had been. "Everyone falls, right, Wolf?" But Wolf had left the room.  
  
Wing's eyes opened as Nanashi eased the plug out. He tried to move and groaned, cradling his ribs. While Nanashi helped Dragon, Wing spit blood into his hand. "I thought it wasn't real." he asked Dragon. He stared at the blood, and a new thought came to him. "If you are killed in the OZ, you die here?" he asked him, looking up at him.  
  
Dragon nodded and slid off the chair. "The body cannot live without the mind." he said.  
  
  
  
Later, Wolf walked into Wing's room, carrying a tray of food. "Wing, I saved you some dinner.." he said softly. He glanced at him passed out on the bed. He set the tray down on a table and pulled the blanket over him. Pausing, with his face close to Wing's, he inhaled lightly, breathing in the scent of him, before slowly pulling away. He glanced back at him once more and then shut the door, walking to his room.  
  
*  
  
The ship is quiet and dark. Almost everyone is asleep. The Base glowed with monitor light. Queen was in the operator's chair as Wing came up behind her. "Whoa! Shit, Wing, you scared the hell out of me."  
  
"What are you doing?" Wing asked.  
  
"Midnight Watch." Queen answered.  
  
Wing's eyes lit up as he stepped closer to the screens that seemed to be alive with a constant flow of data. "Is that... ?" he began.  
  
"OZ? Yeah." Queen said taking a small drink from a cup. The monitors were packed with bizarre codes and equations. "You want a drink?" she asked lifting a plastic jug. Not waiting for an answer, she poured Wing a cup of it and held it out for him. He took it and held it in one hand still watching the screens. "I'll tell you, I feel for you, Wing. I really do. Most of us were still young, just punks, when Dragon jacked us. But you, you had a real life."  
  
Wing took a sip from the cup and started coughing hard. Queen pounded on his back. "Good shit, huh? Shinigami makes it. It's good for two things: degreasing engines and killing brain cells." she said, and then sat back down with a small laugh.  
  
Red-faced, Wing finally stopped coughing.  
  
"Did he tell you why he did it?" she asked him.  
  
Wing nodded.  
  
"I'll be the didn't tell you that this wasn't the first time he thought he found the *One*." Queen said. Wing shook his head as Queen filled his cup and laughed again. "Let me give you a piece of advice. Between you and me, if Dragon says you can fly, I wouldn't go jumping out any windows to find out if he's right. Understand?" Queen raised her drink and grinned at him. Queen laughed again turning back to the monitors. "Welcome to the real world!" she said, taking another drink.  
  
*  
  
Inside OZ, two people were having a meal. The two woman were sitting at a table next to the window overlooking the skyline. The blonde cut into the steak on her plate. "The real world. Ha, what a joke." she said with a small laugh. "You know what real is? I'll tell you what real is." she continued as she raised her fork with a piece of the steak on it. "Real is just another four-letter word." Queen said as she ate the steak.  
  
Sitting across from Queen, was Agent Une.  
  
"Do we have a deal, Miss Peacecraft?" Une said, watching her coldly. She watched Queen place another piece of meat into her mouth.  
  
"You know, I know that this steak doesn't exist. I know when I put it in my mouth, OZ is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know what I've realized?" Pausing, she examined the meat skewered on her fork. She placed it in her mouth, savoring the taste. "Ignorance is bliss."  
  
"Then we have a deal?" Agent Une asked.  
  
"I don't want to remember nothing. Nothing! You understand? And I want to be rich. Someone important. Like an actor. You can do that, right?" Queen asked.  
  
Une nodded. "Whatever you want, Miss Peacecraft."  
  
Queen took a deep drink of wine. "All right. You get my body back in a power plant, reinsert me into OZ and I'll get you what you want." she said.  
  
"Access codes to Sanc." Une said icily.  
  
Queen set the wine glass down. "I told you, I don't know them. But I can give you the man who does." she said.  
  
Agent Une's eyes narrowed. "Dragon." she said coldly.  
  
*  
  
Wing snapped out of the construct coma. " Hn.. I was wondering about that." he said quietly.  
  
"What?" Nanashi asked, looking over at him.  
  
"Why I was bald here but not in OZ." he said sitting up in the chair.  
  
"R.S.I." Nanashi replied.  
  
"Residual self image."  
  
Nanashi nodded. "Good. Now what's this?" he asked, pointing to a monitor beside Wing.  
  
"Life systems monitor, glucose levels." Wing answered.  
  
Nanashi nodded. "What's that?" he said, pointing in a different direction.  
  
"Main power supply to the Base."  
  
Wing stood and followed Nanashi to the operator's station where he pointed to a red key-switch.  
  
"How about this?" he asked, watching him.  
  
". . . E.M.P?"  
  
Nanashi nodded again, crossing his arms over his chest. "Electromagnetic pulse. Our best weapon against the machines. The problem is if someone is still in OZ when that thing goes off, they're not coming back." he said seriously.  
  
Wing nodded in understanding, then glanced back at the sound of footsteps to see Dragon walking up behind them.  
  
"How's he doing?" the Chinese man asked Nanashi.  
  
"We just finished the operation programs and he's showing great retention." Nanashi reported.  
  
"Good. I want everyone alerted to 12-hour stand-by. We're going in. Wing, it's time for you to know why you're here." Dragon said as he walked away.  
  
Wing glanced over at the long-banged man. "What's he talking about?" he asked.  
  
"He's taking you into OZ to see her." Nanashi replied.  
  
Wing frowned faintly. "See who?" he asked.  
  
"The Oracle."  
  
*  
  
The room was empty, heavy curtains covered windows. It looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. In the bedroom with the cracked oval mirror, an old black phone begins to ring. The room filled with equipment and the team.  
  
Dragon answered the phone.[We're in.] he said and then hung up the phone. Dragon turned to the rest and then nodded once before walking towards the door. "Kat hold the exit. Let's go." he said as he walked out.  
  
Wing followed the others as they filed down the stairwell that wound around an antique elevator shaft. They crossed the old lobby. No end and Shinigami stopped at the doors of the old hotel. Dragon turned to look at them through his glasses. "We should be back in an hour." he said quietly. They nodded and then began watched the area.  
  
Wing squinted into the sun that seemed unnaturally bright. He noticed then that he was the only one without sunglasses.  
  
Dragon walked up beside him. "Do you now understand what it means when we say, if you're not one of us, you're one of them?" he asked him.  
  
Wing nodded silently then spoke quietly. "The agents. They're sentient programs. They can commandeer any software hardwired to the mainframe." he answered.  
  
Dragon nodded. "Anyone that is still in a power plant. That is why we try to be invisible in OZ." he said.  
  
"The best hacking is always traceless." Wing said as they walked towards the black Lincoln Continental that had pulled up in front of the hotel.  
  
As Queen passed a garbage can, she surreptitiously dropped a cellular phone inside it. They then climbed inside the car and it pulled away.  
  
Inside the car, Wing looked over at Wolf, who was staring out the side window. "Did you have to do this?" he asked him.  
  
Wolf nodded continuing to watch the scenery rolling past.  
  
"What did she tell you?" Wing asked.  
  
"Lots of things." he answered.  
  
"Any of them true?" Wing asked curious.  
  
Wolf looked over at him, then looked back out the window. "Some of them." he said, a faint trace of fear and hurt in his voice.  
  
"Were they good or bad?" Wing asked quietly.  
  
Wolf shook his head not looking at him. "There's no point in worrying. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen." he said.  
  
The Lincoln pulled up to another hotel, Dragon climbed out and gestured for Wing to follow him. Wolf and Queen stayed inside the car as he slid out and followed Dragon inside the hotel. They walked over to an elevator and rode up to the thirteenth floor. Walking out of the elevator, Dragon led him to a door marked 1305. Dragon opened the door and he walked inside.  
  
The walls and floors were polished marble. Wing followed, his mouth agape. "What - what is this place?" he asked.  
  
Dragon looked back at him. "This is the temple. It is a part of Sanc's mainframe. It's hidden inside OZ so that we can access it."  
  
Two priestesses were waiting in the antechamber. "Hello, Dragon. We've been expecting you." one of them said, bowing her head in respect towards him.  
  
Dragon returned the gesture and then looked at Wing. "You're on your own. Go with them." he said sitting down on the bench that sat inside the room.  
  
One of them took Wing by the arm, and led him down a hall into another room. "Wait here. Among the other Potentials." one of the women said. They then left him. Wing walked into the room and finally understood the attention given to his age. The Potentials are all little children. The room felt like a Buddhist temple and a kindergarten class. Some were playing, others meditating or practicing their gift. He watched a little boy levitate wooden alphabet blocks. A small girl held a spoon which swayed like a blade of grass as she bent it with her mind.  
  
Wing walked over to her, and sat down in front of her. The girl smiled as Wing picked up a spoon and tried to imitate her actions. Despite his best efforts, Wing couldn't repeat them.  
  
The girl brushed her reddish hair out of her face and smiled at him. "Your spoon does not bend because it is just that, a spoon. Mine bends because there is no spoon, just my mind." she said, glancing at him with deep blue eyes once, before looking back at the spoon she held. Wing watched as it curled into a knot. "Link yourself to the spoon. Become the spoon and bend yourself." she told him.  
  
Wing nodded, holding up his spoon again. "There is no spoon. Right." he said softly, he concentrated. The spoon began to bend just as one of the women returned and touched his shoulder.  
  
"The Oracle will see you now." she said standing behind him. The little girl smiled at him as he stood up setting the spoon back down on the floor.  
  
Wing walked into the room the woman led him to and glanced down at the floor as he walked inside. Beneath his feet was a path of the zodiac, he followed it with his eyes and saw that it led to marbled stairs that rose up to a dais, which was empty. Frowning faintly he called out. "Hello?"  
  
A voice called back to him and he followed it up the stairs. At the top of the dais, he smelled something cooking. Following the scent, he moved behind the pillars where he found an open door. "Just come on in." the voice said to him as he stood in front of it.  
  
He walked through a vestibule and saw a second door, he walked inside and blinked.  
  
It looked like a suburban tract house. There was a lot of cozy furniture, a dining room hutch filled with china, shelves and tables crowded with doilies, and knick-knacks. Wing followed a plastic carpet runner into the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen, and noticed a woman with long brown hair. She stood in front of an oven, peering inside through the cracked door.  
  
"Hello?" he asked quietly, watching her.  
  
"I know. You're Wing. Be right with you." she said, not looking away from the oven.  
  
"You're the Oracle?" Wing asked, as he stood in the doorway.  
  
"Yes. I have to say I love seeing non-believers. It's really a relief at times. Almost done. Smell good, don't they?" she said, her tone carrying amusement.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase." she said turning, to glance at him with warm brown eyes.  
  
"What vase?" Wing asked, turning around to look. As he turned, his elbow knocked the vase in question from a table next to the door. It broke against the linoleum floor.  
  
"That vase." she said.  
  
"Shit, I'm sorry." he said, and stepped further into the room away from the table.  
  
She pulled out a tray of chocolate chip cookies and turned setting them on the cooling rack that sat on a counter next to the oven. "I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it." she assured him.  
  
"How did you know...?" he began.  
  
"What's really going to get you later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything." she said, as she laughed softly. "You're cuter than I thought. I see why he likes you." she said watching him.  
  
"Who?" Wing asked, slightly confused at what she was talking about.  
  
"Not too bright, though." she teased, giving him a wink, she then sobered up looking at him seriously. "You know why Dragon brought you to see me?" she asked him.  
  
"I think so." Wing answered.  
  
"So? What do you think? You think you're the one?" she asked, watching him.  
  
"I don't know." he answered her honestly.  
  
She gestured to a wooden plaque above Wing's head, over the doorway. "You know what that means? It's Latin. Means, *Know thyself.*" Leaving the counter, she walked towards him. "Well, let's have a look at you." She looked at his eyes, checked his ears, and felt the glands in his neck. "Open your mouth. Say, *ah.*" he did and she nodded and turned her attention to his palms. "Hmmm. You have the gift, but it's tricky. I'd say the bad news is, you're not the one. You still have a lot to learn. Maybe next life."  
  
"What's the good news?" he asked her frowning faintly again  
  
She smiled again at him. "Same as the bad news, you're not the one." she said.  
  
"Is that it, then?" he asked crossing his arms across his chest.  
  
She shook her head. "No. Here." she said, picking up the tray and holding it out towards him. "Take a cookie. You have a long day ahead of you." He eyed her, then took one of the cookies. He then left her and walked out eating the cookie. She set the tray down and smiled at the doorway. "Make a believer out of you yet." she said softly.  
  
*  
  
Dragon rose from the bench as a Priestess escorted Wing out. After she left them, Dragon placed his hand on Wing's shoulder. "No one will ever ask you what she told you, because it is a gift from her. It is for you and you alone." he said quietly. Wing finished the cookie, and nodded following him as he left.  
  
Storm clouds have begun to gather outside. Queen nervously glanced down the surrounding streets from inside the car. She silently noticed several unmarked white vans. She glanced back at him when she heard him speak. "Here they come." he said quietly.  
  
  
  
In the hovercraft, Nanashi is typing rapidly at the keyboard. "Strange. This area never has this much activity." he said quietly as his fingers flew over the keys.  
  
Back in OZ, Dragon and the rest are back at the old hotel, Shinigami opened the side door and they walked inside.  
  
Inside room 1313, Kat's cellular phone rang. She flipped it open. [ Kat here..] she said.  
  
[They're on their way.] Nanashi told her.  
  
[Right.] Kat answered, flipping the phone shut as she jumped up to her feet.  
  
  
  
Light filtered down the center of the building through a caged skylight at the top of the open elevator shaft. Four figures glided up the dark stairs that wound around the antique elevator. Wing noticed a black cat, a green golden-eyed shadow that slinked past them and padded quickly down the stairs. A moment later, Wing saw another black cat that looked and moved identically to the first one. "Whoa. Deja'vu." he said. Those words stopped the others dead in their tracks.  
  
  
  
Inside Base, the monitors suddenly glitch as if OZ had an electronic seizure. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!" Nanashi swore as his fingers once again flew over the keys.  
  
  
  
Inside OZ, back on the staircase Wolf turned around, his face tight. "What did you just say?" he asked softly.  
  
Wing looked up at him. "Nothing. Just had a little deja'vu." he said.  
  
Wolf watched him intently. "What happened? What did you see?" he asked.  
  
"A black cat went past us and then I saw another that looked just like it." Wing answered.  
  
"How much like it? Was it the same cat?" Wolf asked, a faint trace of fear coloring his tone.  
  
"It might have been. I'm not sure." he answered.  
  
Wolf looked at Dragon, who listened quietly to the rasping breath of the old building.  
  
"What is it?" Wing asked watching the two of them.  
  
"A deja'vu is usually a glitch in OZ. It happens when they change something." Wolf answered, his voice growing wary as he listened to the sudden sound of helicopter blades growing ominously louder as they near the hotel.  
  
Back inside Base, Nanashi spotted what was changed. "It's a trap!" he cried out as he placed another call to Kat's phone.  
  
Inside OZ, Dragon looked up the stairs as a helicopter's shadow passes over the clouded glass of the skylight. "Come on!" he shouted as he ran up the stairs.  
  
Down in the basement of the hotel , heavy bolt-cutters snap through the main phone cable.  
  
Inside room 1313, Kat answers her phone. [What's going on?] she asked.  
  
[They cut the hard-line! It's a trap! Get out!] Nanashi cried. Kat walked over and yanked open the curtain.  
  
[Oh, no.] she whispered.  
  
The windows were bricked up. The door to the roof exploded inward as heavily-armed men rushed toward room 1313.  
  
Inside Base, Nanashi watched helplessly. "No.." he whispered.  
  
Back inside OZ, the door to room 1313 slammed open and the police force poured in, dozens of assault rifles surrounding Kat who was armed with only a handgun. "Dragon! It's a trap.." she screamed.  
  
On the stairway, Dragon stopped as the scream was drowned out by the report of the machine guns that filled the building with terrible fury.  
  
Wolf's eyes widened. "Oh, God." he whispered.  
  
Inside Base, Kat's body thrashes against its harness as -  
  
Bullets drive her back against the blood-splattered brick window, inside OZ. Gun smoke thickened inside room 1313, Kat blasting and moving until, the hammer clicked empty. She screamed as the guns opened fire, and ripped her apart.  
  
Blood flowed from Kat's mouth, her body convulsing, and then laying perfectly still. The flat-line alarm softly cries out from the life monitor of the dead woman.  
  
Inside OZ, more police cars arrive as cops break open the lobby doors, pouring into the hotel. 


	3. Part 3

(III)  
  
Flying downstairs, Dragon stops, hearing the police swarming below. He turns and rushes down the hall of the eighth floor. At the end of it, he finds the bricked-up windows.  
  
"That's what they changed. We're trapped. There's no way out." Queen said. The sound of heavy boot steps close around them with the mechanical sureness of a vice.  
  
Dragon turned to Wolf. "Give me your phone." he ordered.  
  
"They'll be able to track it." Wolf said as he handed him the small phone.  
  
"We have no choice."  
  
Inside Base, Nanashi answers the call.  
  
[Nanashi, find a structural drawing of this building and find it fast.] Dragon ordered, his voice urgent.  
  
Nanashi's fingers pound the keyboard.  
  
Back inside OZ, flashlights probe the rotting darkness as the police search every floor.  
  
In Base, a diagram windows onto the screen. [Got it.] Nanashi said.  
  
[I need the main wet-wall.] Dragon told him, watching the others silently.  
  
On another floor inside the hotel, Agent Une pauses, her hand going to her earpiece.  
  
Inside room 601, Dragon is guided by Nanashi. [Now left and that's it in front of you.] Nanashi said.  
  
Dragon nodded.[Good.] he said and then shut off the phone handing it back to Wolf.  
  
Agent Une heard the phone line click dead. "Sixth floor. They're on the sixth floor." she said to Agent Quinze over her earpiece.  
  
Agent Quinze heard Une on his earphone. "Sixth floor! Move!" he ordered the cops. Cops flood the sixth floor, rushing everywhere. Several cops swept through the room. It is empty. As they passed the bathroom, there is a man- sized hole smashed through the plaster and lathe.  
  
Dragon and the rest of the group are inside the main plumbing wall, slowly worming their way down the greasy, black stack pipes. Above them, light filled the hole they made to get inside.  
  
Quinze turned to Une. "Where are they?" he asked her.  
  
Down two floors, the cops searched in silence, straining for a clue, when one heard something strange near the bathroom.  
  
Inside the wall, Queen slipped and was now wedged between the wall and several thick supply pipes.  
  
Inside room 401, the cop leans in, his ear very close to the thin membrane of plaster separating them. He could hear whispers, hisses and a grunt. The wall suddenly bulged, shatter-cracking.. "They're in the walls!" the cop yelled, aiming his rifle at the wall.  
  
Wing pulled Queen free just as the cop opened fire. The bullets punching shafts of light like swords into the box of soot-black space.  
  
Inside room 401, the cop kept firing, his flashlight strapped to his gun barrel, lighting up the wall until, a bullet flew out of his forehead. Agent Une watched the body of the cop fall with a thud. "Are orders that hard to follow? I'll say it again. Dragon must be taken alive. Understand?" she said callously to the dead corpse.  
  
Inside the wall, they're almost falling, they're climbing so fast. Above them, plaster was smashed open, causing crumbling bits shower down on them, filling the crawlway with dust.  
  
In room 401, Agent Une looked into the open wall, at the exposed intestines of the building, and realized where they are going. "How like a rodent." she said coldly.  
  
Just below, a rifle-butt smashed the wall open, light raking across the lathe. "I got him! I got him!" cried one of the cops.  
  
Wolf found his gun first. Bullet holes popped out the wall as he fires into the room, sending cops diving for cover. They continue, Wolf exposed for a moment, when a creeping cop smashes a fist through and grabs a fistful of his hair. The cop starts to yank him out when Wing kicked, his boot bursting through plaster and splintering lathe, knocking the cop away from the wall. They then quickly sink out of sight.  
  
Black and bloody, they squeezed out from the ceiling into the tangled web of pipes. Their enemies were waiting for them. Blinding lights cut open the darkness as gas-masked figures fired grenade launchers. Smoke blossomed from the green-metal canisters. Dragon never stopped moving. Searching the floor, he found what he needed; the cover of the catch basin. Queen watches him pry open the grate, when a gas can bounces near her. "Come on!" Dragon called out to her. Queen seems to trip as the cloud envelops her.  
  
Inside Base, Queen's body began to shiver uncontrollably. "Nerve gas." Nanashi said softly watching.  
  
Back inside OZ, Dragon watched Queen disappear into the smoke then followed the others down the wet-black hole. They crawled through greasy black water that rested in the three foot diameter pipe that fed into the sewer main.  
  
Inside the hotel basement, gas-masked apparitions find the open hole. Queen is carried out, hand-cuffed, her body still shaking. As she is led past Agent Une, it almost seems that both women smile. "We have them now." Une said.  
  
Inside the pipe, Wing punched out the screen and then spilled down into the main water trough. Oily water formed around them as they waded across the man-made underground river, towards the service catwalk. Wing was about to pull himself out when he saw them coming. Flashlights and laser sites swept at them as cops in helmets and heavy armor, looking more machine than human, filled both ends of the tunnel. There is a single manhole cover above them.  
  
Dragon whispers to Wolf. "You have to get Wing out. Understand? That's all that matters now." he ordered.  
  
Wolf turned to look at him, eyes widening slightly. "Dragon, don't.." Wolf whispered, his voice pleading.  
  
"He must get out. Do you understand me?" Dragon hissed at him.  
  
Wolf nodded silently.  
  
A font of water erupted as Dragon leapt for the manhole ladder, his coat flew open like the wings of a manta ray.  
  
"There he is! That's him!" the cops shouted. Pools of light washed over him as he hauled himself to the surface. "He's heading for the street!" one of the cops yelled.  
  
Wolf urged the others to follow him. Grabbing Wing, they waded quietly away from the chaos.  
  
*  
  
Dragon shot out of the sewer, but the police were waiting for him. The closest cop is armed with a tranquilizer gun. He fired, but Dragon was too fast, using the manhole cover as a shield, he blocked the darts, then threw it into the cop's armored chest, knocking him off his feet. The cops lunged at him, but every part of his body was a deadly weapon moving with impossible speed. It seemed he might fight his way out when he threw a spinning back fist that was caught by Agent Une.  
  
"So, we meet at last." She said coldly.  
  
"And you are?" Dragon asked.  
  
"Une. I am Agent Une." she answered.  
  
"You all look the same to me." Dragon said watching her.  
  
"I've been waiting for this moment." she said.  
  
Faster than a cobra striking, Dragon cracked Une with a jaw-breaking right. "Oh, so have I." he said.  
  
Agent Une smiled.  
  
Wolf led the others, fading into the darkness of the tunnel, lit only with shafts of lights streaming through the street drains.  
  
Une and Dragon exchanged a furious serious of blows that is witnessed but not believed by the surrounding police.  
  
Agent Une delivered a punishing kick that staggered Dragon. "You can't win." she told him coldly.  
  
Dragon smiled. "I already have." he said, standing up. He dropped his fists; a steely resolve in his eyes.  
  
"Take him." Une ordered. Cops swarmed over Dragon.  
  
Inside Base, Nanashi reached out to the screen as if reaching for Dragon. "No!"  
  
Cuffed and beaten, Dragon was thrown into a caged transport vehicle. The door clanged shut. Agent Dorothy found Agent Une. "The others were lost." Dorothy reported.  
  
"You've taken care of Peacecraft?" Une asked.  
  
Agent Dorothy nodded.  
  
"Then the others do not matter." Une said, turning away.  
  
A manhole cover cracked open. Two eyes peek out just as a truck passed over it. The thunder dropped away and the cover opened. Wing, Wolf, No end and Shinigami climbed out. Wolf pulled a water-logged phone from his pocket. "We need a phone." he said.  
  
*  
  
Inside the hovercraft, Nanashi is again at the monitors, searching OZ. "We have to find the others. They're still alive." he said. The phone rang, he picked it up. [Operator.]  
  
"I need an exit! Fast!" Queen said.  
  
"Queen? I thought they had you?" Nanashi asked in disbelief.  
  
Back inside OZ, Queen stood at a public phone. Across the street was a burning paddy wagon that collided with an oncoming car. "There was an accident. A freaking car accident. All of a sudden. Boom. They're all dead. I still got the shakes but, Hell, someone's going to make a believer out of me."  
  
In Base, Mau'dieb spotted the wreck. "There she is."  
  
Nanashi nodded. [I got you.] he said into the phone.  
  
[Just get me outta here.] Queen said.  
  
[Nearest exit is at Franklin and Erie. An old appliance store.] Nanashi said.  
  
Inside OZ, Queen hung up and smiled as the fire trucks arrived. "An actor. Definitely."  
  
Back inside Base, The phone rings again, Nanashi answers. [Operator.]  
  
[Nanashi, it's me.] Wolf said.  
  
The group was outside a pawn shop. Wolf had a new cellular phone. [We need an exit!] he hissed into the phone.  
  
[Gotcha. You're not far from Queen.] Nanashi said.  
  
[Queen, I thought ..] Wolf began.  
  
[So did we. That lady's got nine lives. I sent her to Franklin and Erie.] Nanashi told him.  
  
[Got it.] Wolf said and then hung up.  
  
*  
  
Running, Queen turned onto Erie, a piece of plywood covering a small window was ripped off and Queen crawled inside. Deep in the back room, a phone that hasn't rung in years began to ring.  
  
Inside Base, Nanashi punched the exit command. "Got her." he said.  
  
Queen's body twitched in its harness, jerking itself awake. Her eyes blinked open. Mau'dieb unplugged her. "System check looks fine." he told Nanashi.  
  
Queen stood up, a raspy cough coming from her chest.  
  
Inside OZ, Wolf spotted the appliance shop.  
  
Back inside Base, Queen held her chest.  
  
"You okay?" Mau'dieb asked concerned.  
  
"Damn gas. My lungs are killing me." she said, crossing to an overhead bin. "We got any pain killers?" she asked him.  
  
"The first aid kit's over here." he said, bending down to open a low cabinet, Queen pulled back a heavy blanket exposing a plasma rifle.  
  
Inside OZ, Wing crawled through the window that Queen opened.  
  
In Base, Nanashi finished loading the exit programs as Queen rose up behind him, swinging the weapon to point at his back. She glanced over as Mau'dieb turned with the first aid kit, a look of frozen disbelief crossed his face as he saw what she meant to do. "No!" he cried.  
  
Nanashi spun at the cry and a red hot wave of plasma shot through his chair and into his back. He dove away from the chair ignoring the pain, and a second wave hit him on his side - -  
  
Mau'dieb looked at the monitor where Nanashi had been working. He lunged forward and stabbed the enter command activating the exit sequence and ducked under a sudden wave of plasma fire-  
  
Inside OZ, the phone began to ring as the others crawled in. "God, I love that sound." No end said as she climbed inside.  
  
Back inside Base, Mau'dieb rolled up, grabbing a heavy crowbar from a box of tools laying near him. Queen circled the drive chairs as the sight of the plasma rifle found Mau'dieb's face. Mau'dieb leaped up and charged, screaming, and the plasma rifle screamed back at him.  
  
  
  
Inside OZ, the phone was still ringing. Wolf looked over at Wing. "You first, Wing." he said quietly, watching the smaller man and the phone.  
  
Wing answered the phone, and frowned faintly, when he heard a small click. There was no signal. Nothing but silence.  
  
"What happened?" Wolf asked concerned.  
  
"I don't know. It just went dead." Wing told him handing him the phone. Wolf listened to the dead line and took out the cellular he had gotten earlier.  
  
In Base, the operator phone began to ring. Queen stepped over the body of Nanashi and looked at the monitor. [Hello, Wolf.] she said.  
  
[Queen? Where's Nanashi?] Wolf asked.  
  
[He had an accident.] she said quietly.  
  
[An accident? What about Mau'dieb? Is Mau'dieb there?] Wolf asked, his voice now holding a tone of concern.  
  
She walked over to Wolf's chair, staring down at his body as it hung in its coma-like stillness. [You know, for a long time, I thought I was in love with you, Wolf. I used to dream about you..] she said softly as she brushed her face against his, feeling the softness of the hair that fell over it. [You are a beautiful man. Too bad things had to work out like this.]  
  
Inside OZ, Wolf's eyes widened slightly. [You killed them.] he said quietly.  
  
"What?!" Shinigami exclaimed, his mouth dropping open as he spun to look at Wolf.  
  
"Oh God." No end whispered, her hand rising to her mouth in disbelief.  
  
Back inside the Nataku's Base, Queen slipped on Nanashi's operator headgear, and moved among the silent bodies. [In a way you're very lucky. Most people never know why they die. One minute they're alive, the next they're dead. No warning. Nothing. That's why I thought maybe I should tell you. It seemed the least I could do.] she said as she came to stand beside Dragon's still form. Her anger began to boil up out of her. [You see, the truth, the real truth is that the war is over. It's been over for a long time. And guess what? We lost! Did you hear that? We lost the war!] she hissed.  
  
[What about Sanc?] Wolf asked her, trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
[Sanc? Sanc is a part of this delusion. More of this madness. That's why this has to be done. It has to end. Now and forever.] Queen said.  
  
[Oh my God. This is about Sanc. You gave them Dragon for the access codes to Sanc.] Wolf gasped, eyes going wide, his hand tightening on the phone.  
  
Queen walked away from Dragon and bent down next to No end's body. [You see, Wolf, we humans have a place in the future. But it's not here. It's in OZ.] she said.  
  
[OZ isn't real!] Wolf hissed at her.  
  
[Oh, I disagree, Wolf. I disagree. I think OZ is more real than this world. I mean, all I do is pull a plug here. But there, you watch a person die.] she said as she grabbed a hold of the cable that was in No end's neck, twisting it and yanking it out. [You tell me which is more real.] she said.  
  
Inside OZ, No end's eyes widened and her mouth opened as if she were going to scream, her hands reached out in front of her for a moment, and then she fell dead. Shinigami screamed, jumping back away from her.  
  
[Welcome to the real world, right?] Queen said, and then she snickered.  
  
Wolf's eyes narrowed in anger. [Somehow, some way, you're going to pay for this.] he hissed at her.  
  
[Pay for it? I'm not even going to remember it. It'll be like it never happened. The tree falling in the forest. It doesn't make a sound.] she said.  
  
[Goddamn you, Queen!] he screamed at her, finally taking his eyes off of No end.  
  
[Don't hate me, Wolf. I'm just the messenger. And right now I'm going to prove that the message is true.] she said as she walked over to Wing's still body. [If Dragon was right, then there's no way I can pull this plug, is there?] she asked.  
  
Wolf turned to Wing, eyes widening with fear, filled with the knowing that he was next.  
  
[If he is the One, then in the next few seconds there has to be some kind of miracle to stop me. Because if he dies like the others that means Dragon was wrong. How can he be the One if he's dead?] she asked as she wrapped her hand around the cord.  
  
Over the phone, Wolf heard an explosion and a loud, painful scream.  
  
In Base, Queen was on the ground, her left leg blown off at the knee. She rolled over and found Nanashi on the ground, with the sights of the plasma rifle aimed at her. "How's it feel, Queen? Knowing you're about to die?" he hissed at her.  
  
"It's Nanashi! He's alive." Shinigami yelled as he listened over Wolf's phone.  
  
Inside Base, Queen lunged for Wing's plug just as Nanashi fired the rifle blowing her head off.  
  
Inside OZ, the three of them were waiting, listening, trying to figure out what was happening, when the store phone began to ring once more. They answered the phone.  
  
Back inside Base, Wolf's eyes opened, a sense of relief surged through him at the sight of the ship. As Nanashi unplugged him, he noticed his charred wounds. "Nanashi, you're hurt." he said concerned.  
  
Nanashi shook his head and unplugged the other two. "I'll be all right." he said quietly.  
  
"Mau'dieb?" Wolf asked softly as he stood up. Nanashi's face tightened and he looked away. Wolf closed his eyes and sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Nanashi." he said quietly.  
  
*  
  
Inside OZ, On top of a Japanese luxury hotel in downtown Chicago, a military helicopter sets down on the roof. Heavily armed Marines began to deploy out of the copter. Agent Dorothy stepped out of the helicopter, flanked by columns of Marines. They opened the roof access door and entered the top-floor maintenance level of the hotel. Walking down they walked into the elevator. At every door, at least two Marines stopped off and posted guard.  
  
She exited the elevator and walked down to the Presidential suite; the final two Marines posted guard outside the door. Inside, she found Agent Une. "There is a problem. Peacecraft has failed to secure the hardware." she told the other women.  
  
Agent Une stared out the window. "Never send a human to do a machine's job." she said callously.  
  
"But if Peacecraft has failed, why haven't they pulled the plug?" Dorothy asked.  
  
"Haven't you learned by now, that it is impossible to understand why they do the things they do?" Une said as she turned to face Dorothy. "Continue as planned. Trace his signal to locate their position and deploy an extermination unit." she ordered.  
  
Dragon was handcuffed to a chair, stripped to the waist. He was bleeding from numerous wounds and was pumped full of serum, alternately shivering and sweating. As well as hooked up to various monitors with white disk electrodes. Agent Quinze began running a trace program.  
  
*  
  
Wing looked at Dragon whose body was covered with a cold sweat. "What are they doing to him?" he asked.  
  
"They're cracking his mind." Nanashi answered.  
  
"How?"  
  
"They inject virus-like serums to break down the system. It's like cracking a computer. All it takes is time." he said emotionlessly, looking at the floor.  
  
"How much time?" Wing asked him.  
  
"Depends on the mind. But eventually, it will crack and his alpha pattern will change from this to this." Nanashi said as he turned and punched several commands on Dragon' personal unit. The monitor waves changed from a chaotic pattern to an orderly symmetrical one. "When it does, Dragon will tell them anything they want to know." he said with a small sigh.  
  
"The access codes to Sanc." Wing guessed, watching him.  
  
"If an agent got inside Sanc's mainframe he could do anything. Disable the defense system. It would be the end of us." Nanashi said, glancing up at Wolf, who was pacing relentlessly back and forth across the main deck. "We can't let that happen. We have to do it, Wolf. Sanc has to be protected." he said quietly.  
  
Wolf glanced over at Queen's dead body. Sudden rage overtook him and he started kicking her hard. "Goddamn it! Goddamn it!" he yelled.  
  
"We have to pull the plug." Nanashi said.  
  
"No!" Wolf said, he stopped kicking Queen's corpse and crossed his arms across his chest.  
  
"We don't have any other choice." Nanashi persisted.  
  
The words were like using gasoline to put out a fire and the pain in Wolf's eyes burned into a blaze. Glaring at Nanashi, he walked past him and climbed back into his chair.  
  
"Wolf, what are you doing?" Nanashi asked, watching him.  
  
"I'm going in after him." Wolf said, fury barely suppressed in his voice.  
  
"Dragon could conform at any minute.." Nanashi began.  
  
"If he does I'm sure you'll do what has to be done." Wolf told him.  
  
"You saw that place. It's suicide." Nanashi said, his tone urgent now.  
  
Wolf glared at him again, his azure eyes dark with fury.  
  
"I know what Dragon means to you.." Nanashi said.  
  
"No. No, I don't think you do. If you did, then you would know that I'm not letting him go. Not without a fight, Nanashi. I won't let history repeat itself.. I refuse to watch it happen again. I won't.." he hissed, as he yanked his harness tight. "Not without a fight." he said again through clenched teeth. 


End file.
